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A look at the day ahead from Dhara Ranasinghe.
It's Federal Reserve day and market focus is on the central
bank's rate-hike projections for 2023 in the so-called "dot
plot."
Some economists expect this to show the Fed now expects one
rate hike for 2023 versus none in December. An unchanged median
dot for 2023 could be interpreted as the Fed pushing back
against higher bond yields and markets' pricing of rate hikes.
The Fed will deliver its statement and economic forecasts at
1800 GMT, followed with a news briefing. Until then, barring
unforeseen events, markets will likely stay calm. Ten-year U.S.
yields are just off 13-month highs, the dollar index
is little changed and equity futures are a touch lower
.
The tone across world stocks is cautious too, with Asian
stocks tracking Wall Street's Tuesday fall and European markets
too set to open softer.
In the euro zone, it's the final day of voting in the Dutch
national election -- the first major general election in the EU
since the pandemic began.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte's VVD Party is expected to secure
a fourth term, but there is a risk markets are not adequately
pricing gains at the ballot for anti-establishment forces.
Some good news for AstraZeneca as Australia's
pharmaceutical regulator said the rollout of the company's
COVID-19 vaccine would continue, despite many European nations
pausing vaccinations to investigate reported side-effects.
The EU regulator will release findings on Thursday.
Elsewhere, Credit Agricole Italia has secured a
green light from European Central Bank supervisors for its
planned takeover bid of third-tier Italian lender Credito
Valtellinese .
Key developments that should provide more direction to markets
on Wednesday:
- Fed monetary policy decision and news conference.
- German, UK German new car registration data.
- US housing starts data due.
- Corporates: BMW said it expects a significant year-on-year
increase in pretax profit; Raiffeisen Bank aims to distribute
20%-50% of consolidated net profits; retail investment platform
Hargreaves Lansdown 2021 profit to beat expectations.
- Italy's biggest insurer Generali is studying an
acquisition in Russia worth nearly 2 billion euros ($2.4
billion), according to a media report.
(Reporting by Dhara Ranasinghe; Editing by Sujata Rao)
